


31032019

by shepioneer



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-27 03:06:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18295583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shepioneer/pseuds/shepioneer
Summary: To Shepards surprise, the Turian only nonthreatheningly approached her with his hands raised, gun still in its holster on his hip. He managed to make three more little steps before she lifted her chin, now smeared with blood and clicked the safety of the gun off. The Turian took the hint. Good. Shepard wasn't planning on giving him a warning shot next to his foot.AU (Shepard grew up in a bad place, meets fresh cop Garrus, it's not love at first sight).





	31032019

The pink and blue hues of neon street signs reflected from a puddle of water that was currently soaking Shepards already battered boots. She sat with her back leaning against the cold wall with one arm pressing on her stomach, where a dark red stain was slowly spreading through the cloth of her shirt. The fingers of the other hand were wrapped around a grip of a small handgun tight enough to turn her knuckles bone white. Her jeans were ripped at both knees and exposed scraped skin with pieces of gravel stuck in it. The way too thin jacket was only thrown over her shoulders and offered her no relief from the creeping cold of the night. The sheen of sweat on her forehead and cheeks combined with sickly greenish undertone of her face made her look feverish and her gasps for breath were constantly laced with pathetic wheezes.

Her eyes seemed to be empty, only blindly staring into the dark while trying to retain consciousness. She felt an unpleasant sensation on her top lip and raised the hand with the handgun to wipe the blood off when she heard a noise coming from the darkness in front of her. With the quick reflexes of a person born and raised in danger, she immediately pointed her weapon to the source of the sound. In a span of a mere second, her body tensed and coiled, preparing itself for anything, while her gaze cleared, sharpened and didn't waver. She still was an image of a wounded prey animal, but with that moment, she was prepared to _bite_.

The darkness moved and from it stepped a tall creature, all sharp edges and spikes, dressed in local police uniform, but to Shepards surprise, the Turian only nonthreatheningly approached her with his hands raised, gun still in its holster on his hip. He managed to make three more little steps before she lifted her chin, now smeared with blood and clicked the safety of the gun off. The Turian took the hint. Good. Shepard wasn't planning on giving him a warning shot next to his foot. Even the small movements made her whole body hurt and she had to gasp with an open mouth, accidentally getting blood onto her tongue. The resisted the urge to spit. She couldn't afford to take eyes off the cop. There were a few seconds of pointed silence, only filled with the city noise, dampened in the filthy dark alley.

When the Turian actually opened his mouth, Shepard flinched.

"You're hurt."

If Shepard wasn't in agonizing pain, she would probably chuckle and congratulate him on his acute observation skills. For now, she settled on slight furrowing of her brow. He sounded young, younger that even the fresh police recruits, but faked a kind voice better than most.

The Turian waited a moment, prompting her to speak. When nothing happened, his eyes flicked to her torso, where good half of her shirt was already black with blood and stained her hand. His mandibles twitched in a expression unknown to Shepard.

"Let me help you," he said uncharacteristically softly, looking back at her face. Shepard wanted to spit in his face. She knew she was fucked. It was either shoot a cop and try to make a run for it, or go with him and become just another poor sod cooling behind bars. Her offences, however small, were plenty and would ensure her at least a few years.

That was when they both heard a male voice yelling uncomfortably close: "I want that bitch dead!"

The Turian turned his head towards the voice, letting Shepard point a gun at him without paying attention. Something deep inside Shepard trembled. She named it irritation from not being taken as a real threat and left it alone. This time, when the Turian looked back at her, she found that she slightly lowered her hand without realizing it. She snapped it back to his face with new fervor.

"Sounds like you're in trouble," there was no amused or snarky undertone in his words, just sympathy that Shepard hated.

And then there was the sound of running near them, too near and while Shepard instinctively pointed her gun on incoming danger, the Turian decided it was probably the best time to act and with a speed Shepard didn't expect from an alien this big, he managed to knock the gun from her hand and grab her under the shoulders, intending to carry her away.

Shepard didn't scream, she unlearned that a long time ago. Instead, she freed her arm from his grip and with a quick flick of her wrist, went right after his eyes, while kicking her legs to throw him off balance. The Turian didn't expect the tiny human to have this amount of strength nor her somewhat impressive close fighting skill. They both fell to the ground and started wrestling without dignity. She huffed and groaned with pain as they struggled, but the Turian still wouldn't let go of her. She desperately reached into her boot, pulling out a short black-bladed knife and wasted no time in stabbing the Turian into his massive clawed hand. He yelled out in pain and finally released her. She scuttered away but didn't even get behind the corner when a sudden sharp pain in her calf made her see white. Shepard screamed and grabbed her hurt leg, trying to bring it closer to her body. She whimpered, despite herself and looked wide eyed on the two human men standing at the other side of the alley. She couldn't see much because of the dark, but she would bet that they were both grinning. They both walked towards her, their gaits tough with the sureness of their success. Shepard schooled her expression into ice cold hate and grit her teeth so the sounds of her pain wouldn't escape. She sat in the puddle that soaked her boots earlier, now almost completely wet from the waist down. _What a shit way to die_ , she thought, looked the man who held a gun to her head right in the eye and thought of her family.

A shot went off. A shot went off and her brain was still in her skull. Before she even realized she wasn't dead yet, a second shot echoed through the street. Shepard blinked, realizing that them man holding her at gunpoint now has a hole in his own head and is starting to fall on her. She moved to the side with a grossed out sound, hearing another thump and looking at the body of the second man, now laying on top of the first one. Her brain, still too shocked to process properly, didn't register a shadow growing bigger in front of her until the Turian stood tall again. Only then she directed her gaze at him, but she could only see her knife still embedded in his palm and how blue his eyes were before the blood loss and shock overcame her adrenaline high and she fainted right into the puddle, now dark red with blood.


End file.
